Michael Malone calls for NBA Investigation after Embiid no show

Michael Malone calls for NBA Investigation after Embiid no show

Coach obviously you come away with the with a win after a tough loss on the road just what stood out just between the efforts in the first and the second half yeah we um I I feel that was a let down when we found out at the tip off

That Joel embiid was not be playing tonight I think there was a collective and when you do that in this business uh you can make for an interesting game like today so first off give them credit I mean those guys Batum Mars Paul Reed Kelly Uber Patrick Beverly all the guys

With the those guys played outstanding and they gave us you know we’re lucky to come out of here with a win today let’s be honest um for three quarters we guarded nobody just bottom line we get play any defense for three quarters and then the fourth quarter we held them to

17 points they shot 29 from the field uh and we had zero turnovers that quarter and that started with the bench unit start the fourth we down two and the I think I think it was uh Jamal Reggie CB Payton DJ we start off on a 10 to four

Run Take the Lead back and the starters came in and did enough to get the win but um coming off of a really long road trip the first game at home is usually the hardest game especially went some ma a special like today so wasn’t pretty

Not satisfied with it but it sure beats a loss who who told you that that em wasn’t going to play when that and how close to tip was it when you found out uh w w called me like that somebody in the back like that um we found out very late and and

Again you know I I don’t know how you go from being active available to out and I’m sure the league will do their due diligence and because that’s frowned upon and we’ve had situations this year where we’ve talked to the league and they told us if a player goes

From being active to out there’s going to be an investigation so you know I’m sure that’ll happen and I’m sure that dwell heard his he heard his knee in the Indiana game like that’s real like he watched the game he hurt his knee in that Indiana game so I’m sure he is hurt

But uh it’s just really tough when a player and the team that like us preparing for them and then all of a sudden last minute he’s out but we have to do a better job of handling those situations and I felt we did Jamal made the threes three threes in a row we’re

Up 10 I think everybody’s like oh yeah this going to be a cake walk today well it wasn’t a cakewalk this was a tough tough win and uh again not satisfied but it definitely beats losing you touched on it but it just as a competitor is there sort of a level of disappointment

When when you do find out about that at the last second just just I I Nick nurse coaches the Philadelphia 76ers I have no idea what’s going on in the locker room um I used to work with a guy Don Cheney and uh one of the opposing teams was

Making comments about our team and Don said well he’s got my vote for Coach of the Year CU he can coach his team and my team I’m not going to do that um yes it was a big let down for the national TV audience not to get Nia embiid but I I

Just want our guys to play well and so the two positives today we won and nobody got hurt P Watson played really well in that fourth quarter plays showed not only that but managed to Tempo slowed it down then pushed on a possession get the three what have you

Seen from him in terms of taking more and more steps um lately not just in his role standing also no I agree Matt I thought he was he was really good tonight and the impact of the game you know three nine points three rebounds three assists and he had some really

Good defensive possessions you know and uh so we all want to say that you know you want to put somebody you know you know in this one hole like he’s a Defender and I think what pton showing is no I can help this team on both ends

Of the floor and I love when he plays downhill puts pressure on the basket to score or to find a teammate um He’s Got Confidence his three-point shot so uh yeah I think uh pton was really good with that unit and it was you just watching his development you know

Through uh a little more than halfway through the season you know pretty impressed with how far he’s come from last year to this point and what really excites everybody is how much better he can get so uh you know kudos to Payton for the job he’s done you told me once

That these are the kind of spots when guys are out that you do you see those let down spots over and over again when NB when you found out the NB was out was there part of your was the first thing through your mind like oh here we go

Like tough and you know I went out to the bench you know like there’s like 2 minutes on the clock guys are still warming up and I was trying to grab guys individually like hey man no let downs and Aaron Aaron Gordon like what are you talking about I said emb’s not playing

So I like our players didn’t know they’re on the court warming up and so you know you prepare mentally to get ready for a fight against a really good team and a MVP candidate then he’s not there and Maxi is not there and Tobias isn’t there and all these other guys are

And you know you’re fighting human nature at that point on top of the the fatigue mentally and physically from coming back from a 11 game Road Trip getting back at 3: in the morning and playing at 3:00 today so you put all that together and you get a game like

Today so we found enough ways to get the stops and the win and that’s all that matters Michael how do you think you could get Christian playing back to that level he he might have been at last year yeah well I think for Christian Brown to play really well we we’ve got

To be better defensively he’s got to be better defensively we have to be better defensively because tonight for three quarters we were taking the ball out of the net over and over and over again and I think one of the Christian strengths as a player and the reason I’m talking

About that part of it Harrison is he’s a very good open court player but if we’re not getting stops and rebounds and run outs now we’re a half court team and I I think um not that Christian can’t be effective in the half court but I think

You’re taking away one of the areas that can really impact and then for him it’s just you know again like he’s got to be uh defensively just like a pest and irritant and he’s got to be able to lock guys down and have game plan discipline

And get out and run and finish and make plays for other people get on the offensive glass get us some extra possessions those are the types of plays that we need from Christian and and I have no doubt that he’s uh you know he

He’s ready to do that for us but we just got to find it to your point just probably a little bit more consistently one more Jamal had uh 20 points the first half and then three in the second just wonder what you saw from that and

Was it a schematic thing or was it something that you need to bring a little bit better no I mean we said it right when we found out that all those guys were out with embiid and you know Nick nurse is a very good coach won a championship in Toronto we knew they

Were going to try to junk the game up and so they had Smalls on bigs bigs on Smalls they went to a box in one on Jamal making it really hard for him and what was great is that they went to the box and one and I felt in that fourth

Quarter you know when Nicole was out they went to that to try to you know cut Jamal off he didn’t fight it we got Michael Porter off we got other guys involved so just kind of reading the game and we see with Nico all the time um when Jamal’s getting that kind of

Attention it’s really hard to play one on Three so that’s where he’s got to trust his teammates and uh just continue to make the right reads and uh you know seven assists only two turnovers is a very good number and the one thing I did

Not want to have happen is you know you lose a game in all the free throws that we missed tonight you know that was I think we were 24 38 so we got there a ton but left way too many points at the free throw line tonight which could have

Come back to bite us thank coach thanks everybody

Michael Malone Press Conference after the Denver Nuggets beat the Philadelphia 76ers after Joel Embiid was ruled OUT at the last second. In this Denver Nuggets press conference, Head Coach Michael Malone discusses the team’s performance and the unexpected absence of Joel Embiid in their recent game. Malone expresses his disappointment and calls for an NBA investigation, citing the late notification of Embiid’s unavailability as a significant factor affecting the team’s mental preparation. He praises his players for their effort, particularly in the fourth quarter, and highlights their defensive improvements that led to a challenging yet successful game. Malone also touches on individual player contributions and the need for consistent defensive strength, underscoring the importance of adapting to sudden changes in opponent lineups.

#nba